


Remember

by spacekiddgray



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Falling In Love, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, lots of gay, mermaid au, mild hatespeech and bullying, the character death isnt intense or that sad tbh, there's long haired victor in here too!!, victor drowns, yurio is yurio, yuuri is the mermaid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-18 22:12:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9405041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacekiddgray/pseuds/spacekiddgray
Summary: victor falls into the ice and a merman saves him, and then he falls in love and the merman loves him harder.





	

**Author's Note:**

> i needed to get this out of my system!! ! don't mind this aha. i hope you guys like it. i'm a little rusty but it's okay. also thanks @google for the translations. hmu if theres any blatant issues with grammar or something!!

When Victor was eight years old, he fell through the ice on a lake near his home. He woke up that morning and eagerly watched the news, celebrating loudly when the news lady said that the ice was safe enough to stand on. He immediately grabbed his ice skates and his winter gear before heading for the ice. Although his father seemed a little worried about it, they let him go out once he begged. As soon as he’d stepped outside, his father decided to go head out with him, just to be sure he’d be safe. The ice didn’t crack for a long time. Victor had been careful, had skated mostly around the edge. Then, when he tried to practice one of the jumps he’d seen on TV, he fell no doubt and the ice suddenly cracked. The boy thought that it was the sound that ice made when you fell on it, but when he got up and started to skate off the pain, a new pain hit him. The ice buckled underneath his weight, swallowing his small frame within seconds and he could only feel one thing; cold. A part of him managed not to gasp, he didn’t inhale any water willingly, but he couldn’t move on his own will. His body was too shocked, he couldn’t process it fast enough, he could just see the light coming from where he’d fallen. 

He should’ve died there. Though, just as he began to panic, a pair of hands touched him from his underside and pushed him up. Victor was startled, and he was even more so when he looked over and saw a pair of eyes, a human face. He kept staring even as he resurfaced, taking a breath and blinking once. When he opened his eyes next, all he could see was a tail.  _ A mermaid… _ He thought idly. Before he could sink again, he moved to shove his arms onto the ice, letting them freeze to the ice as he waited for his mind to come back to him. He tried to pull up, but his body was cold and he felt like he couldn’t do anything. Luckily, his dad had sprinted for help and soon someone was pulling him off the ice, into his warm house and wrapping him up once he was out of his wet clothes. His mother was crying, everyone was surprised that he hadn’t drowned. All Victor could think about was the eyes he’d seen, staring into his own with some kind of hope. 

Victor got an all season pass to the nearest ice rink after that. He thanked his mom endlessly, knowing it came from them and out of the money for food. No one was bothered when he asked them for a ride, even if his neighbors were busy when he stopped by. They all thought it was such a miracle he was alive, they didn’t want to risk him going out to another lake and doing it again. Still, after months, he couldn’t get the eyes out of his mind.

Summer rolled around and the lakes were thoroughly thawed. He was nine now and was steadily getting better at skating. He’d gotten a coach, and was beginning to learn how to do jumps. The rink was open during the summer, so he often spent his time there. But, this one afternoon his mother was out and told him to stay home. The eyes haunted him still, and he figured now was a safer time to go to the lake. He went there in his swim trunks and with a towel and found it so odd that no one was there. It was oddly silent and the air hung thick. He took a deep breath, and watched how the sun settled over the gently moving water. There was no way he’d swim in that, he realized, but he would at least get his toes wet and look for any lingering mermaids. It took him a while to get the courage to get even his feet in the water, but as soon as he was just barely submerged he felt something else watching him. He looked up and saw eyes again, not very deep into the water. 

“Hello?” he called out gently, in Russian. The creature creeped forward, still full submerged and a good ten feet from Victor. He didn’t know what to do. He slowly sat down, knowing that when the creature approached him it wouldn’t meet him at a standing level. The creature slowly came up right in front of him, his tail white and glittery with a few colored spots. His skin looked soft and his hair was dark, and Victor couldn’t help but think that this merman was the prettiest man he’d ever met in general. 

“Hi,” the merman whispered to him, staring at him intensely, strangely. Victor kept eye contact, terrified to look away. The creature brought it’s hand up to his face, gently touching his cheek. 

“You saved my life,” Victor said in English this time, because that’s what the merman spoke to him in. He was amazed. Mermen didn’t exist, but here was one, touching him. 

“I know. I remember your eyes. You looked scared. I didn’t want you to die,” the merman spoke better English than him and that was startling, but it added on to the mystery of him. He was clear, vivid, right down to the way he spoke. 

“I remember your eyes, too. Why didn’t you let my family see you?” he asked, and that’s when the man drew away. He frowned, swallowing thickly, wondering if the question would make him go away.

“Older humans don’t believe in me. They’d kill me. You are young. You and your folk are kind. My name is Yuuri,” he spoke carefully. Victor understood to the extent that his young mind would let him. He’d not yet faced the trials of ignorance and prejudice, but he somehow had a weary awareness of it. 

“Mine is Victor. Will I ever see you as an adult?” he asked. Their time felt limited. 

“Yes. You’ve seen me now, you’ll never forget. You came back because you remembered me. You like to ice skate, yes? It’ll take you many places. Always visit the water when you go around the world, Victor. I’ll be there.”

 

It wasn’t long after that that Yuuri left, and Victor did the one thing that he never did for anyone else: he listened. As he ran home, he realized he’d never forget his eyes, no matter what he did. 

 

Only ten years later, when Victor was 19 and was leaving Russia for the first time. He wasn’t too upset, because quite a life had found him over the years. He’d grown out his hair and in that simple statement defied so many of the statements of the traditional life his parents had set as true. He also found an interest in boys, and while that wasn’t particularly a big deal or relevant to him as a human, it had meant a lot of new hard times. Between getting black eyes at school and pushing his body as an ice skater, Victor had become a hardened, yet deceivingly optimistic person. His parents hated him. If they knew who he’d be in the future, he joked to his friend once, they would’ve let him drown when he was nine. He had no attachments to his home anymore, and found himself unsure of what to do on the day before for his first debut in the Senior Division (but wait, how was he leaving for the first time? Well, because this time, when he would come back he’d be coming back to a new apartment in the most accepting city in Russia, and therefore he was leaving the Russia  _ he  _ knew).

He wound up at the lake on accident, but he was instantly met with nostalgia and the odd sense of peace the lake carried. When he crouched down near the water, he was startled to see eyes peeking up at him. He yelped and fell backwards, only for the long forgotten merman to pop out and smile at him.

“Yuuri!” Victor cheered once he got over his fright. Okay, so maybe not exactly long forgotten. Long unmentioned? Perhaps. 

“Victor, you’ve grown!” Yuuri replied happily, resting his hands on Victor’s ankles as he tried to get a better look at him with his long hair and all. “I think you look really good with long hair. What did your parents think?”

“They’ve hated it since I disagreed to a haircut three years ago. But, I agree. I do look really good with it. How have you been? You look… No different at all, if my memory is servicing me correctly,” Victor responded cooly, not feeling that weirded out by speaking to the merman. They’d become friends over the years. From ages twelve to fifteen, he’d come see him nearly daily. He’d needed the assurance of a constant positive force in his life, but after age fifteen his mother decided he needed to go out less (to become the traditional man through methods such as hard labor. It didn’t work.)

“I’ve been alright. I just was about to head South for the remainder of winter. You know, I used to be able to handle the icy waters. But I visited Thailand once during the winter and I have to say that the warm waters there are much nicer!” Victor grinned at him, so intrigued to hear about his life. 

“Really? I haven’t been there before. It sounds nice. Did you meet anyone else?” Victor asked. He wanted Yuuri to find other company soon. He wouldn’t be able to see him much at all anymore. 

“Yes, I did. I’ve met lots of people. You might be skating soon with who I met. His name is Phichit, and he’s not quite old enough to go into the Senior Division, but once he is, you better watch out. He’s a slow burner. He’ll go from last to first and no one will notice until he’s got the gold. You, however. I bet you’ll get a gold this year,” Yuuri said fondly.

“Maybe… You know, Yuuri, after this competition I’m moving out on my own. In the city,” he said softly. Yuuri’s eyes softened and he took Victor’s hand gently.

“I expected this to happy someday… It’s okay. I’ll still come see you if you’ll come find me. You’ll know where I am. You do need to get out of this place. Your mom mustn't be a good mom if she hates you just because of a haircut. Or, lack of one, I suppose,” he said softly, squeezing Victor’s hand as a reassurance that they were not any less of friends. 

Somehow, that destroyed a fear in him that Victor had not known he had. He grinned at Yuuri and pulled him up into a hug, not caring that it got his shirt wet, “Thank you so much, Yuuri, for saving me and then being my friend. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” When he spoke, the sentiment was obvious and his voice was thick with emotions he’d not yet discovered before. Yuuri gently hugged him back and murmured something he couldn’t understand;

“ _ 貴方は私にとって大事な人です。私を忘れないでください。 _ ”

Victor looked up what it meant later at the airport from vague memory. “You mean the world to me. Please don’t forget me.”  _ Oh _ , he thought,  _ Yuuri… How could I ever forget you? _

Six years later, Victor was 25 and a world famous ice skater for the third time in a row. Here they were, in a hotel near the beach in Paris, where the Final had been held this year. Chris was laughing at him again, teasing him for running off again, Victor smiling awkwardly again. 

“What’s your obsession with water? You should’ve been a swimmer. You always want to go hang out on the beach by yourself. It’s weird,” Chris teased, and Victor laughed and gently shoved him off towards his room. 

“It’s just a comforting thing to me, don’t tease me. Your guilty pleasure is drinking and mine is hanging out by the ocean, we all have our weird habits,” he joked, leaving soon so he could get his towel and change into the hotel robe. The beach wasn’t far, and he found himself staring at the cold, black ocean, glittering under the moonlight before he knew it. He kicked off his flip flops and took off the robe, resting both on the towel before he went to sit at the edge of the water. Soon, there was a gentle splashing noise made audible to him, and he glanced into the water. When Yuuri approached, he wasn’t surprised that he hadn’t been able to see him until he came above water. It was a dark night. 

“Hello,” he said softly, smiling at his long time friend. Winning gold wasn’t the same without coming to see Yuuri, he realized. 

“Hi, Victor. I heard the news!” Yuuri said, managing to bring himself up enough to hug Victor and pull him down onto the wet sand, giggling at Victor’s protests. They sat there like that quietly once the initial excitement of seeing each other passed, quietly staring into each other’s eyes. 

“How’d you find out?” Victor finally asked, bringing his hand up to comb it through Yuuri’s soft, damp hair. It was cold out, he recognized vaguely, but he would push that truth away to stay with him. 

“You humans are very loud about anything exciting. I was just nearby the city and heard the news when lurking around. I was so excited for you. I wish I had legs, I’d ice skate with you. Or, at least come see you skate.”

Victor paused at the joke (it had been a joke, yes?) and sighed softly, nuzzling his face gently into Yuuri’s neck, unsure of what to do with his own emotions. He saw Yuuri every year after he won the cups, then the final. He visited him as much as he could. After a month of not seeing him and feeling incredibly upset about it, he’d realized something. All the feelings he had for Yuuri added up to one truth.

He was in love with Yuuri. He’d fallen for a merman. And while Yuuri might not have outright drowned him, he was certainly drowning in his own emotions and the star-crossed nature of their own being. It was depressing. 

“I wish you had legs, too, Yuuri,” he murmured into the other’s neck, the taste of sea salt on his skin and evident in his scent. Victor had come to like it after all these years. “It’s so unfair. You’ve had me so enthralled for sixteen, seventeen years, and yet you can’t come see me everyday and vice versa. Thoughts themselves aren’t enough. I want  _ you _ .”

This was the first time his emotions had been voiced so openly, but he didn’t regret it. Yuuri took in a deep breath, brushed his fingers through Victor’s now short hair, and sighed. 

“When I was twenty seven, I drowned,” he stated, and Victor was immediately confused. “And when I woke up next, I found I had a tail. I was miserable. No one recognized me anymore, and humans would try to hurt me for the most part. I was in a horrible place before you fell into my waters. There’s always rumors I hear from the others and the whales and dolphins that mermaids are made to have soulmates. I never believed in that. And then I saw you with your hair grown out, wishing me farewell for now, and I decided I had been wrong all this time. Fate had just cursed me with a soulmate who was currently human.”

Victor didn’t speak for a long time, because he was very suddenly crying into Yuuri’s neck because, _God_ , the world was so unfair. Not even ice skating could match his love for Yuuri, but here they were, separated by a tail and legs.  He almost wished he’d drown. 

“ _ Я люблю тебя. Никогда не оставляйте меня, _ ” he finally muttered. Yuuri wouldn’t ever figure out what he said, but he took the sentiment anyway.

 

And, when he was twenty seven, just like Yuuri had been, he found that he wound up doing so. It wasn’t as intentional as he had briefly thought, but it happened in an oddly ironic and peaceful way. He’d finally visited home after many years of avoiding his parents, and had left one night to ice skate on the same lake they’d met in. It was peacefully quiet as it always had been (he found out over the years that merfolks tended to do that to their homes. It was a part of their magic). When he began skating, he was set on performing a routine of ‘Stay Close to Me’, almost hoping for Yuuri to be in the waters and at least hearing his skates hit the ice. 

The ice cracked suddenly and this time his parents were sleeping. And when he fell in,  didn’t see Yuuri for a while. He couldn’t think about anything at first, frozen in fear and sucking in water on accident. There wasn’t much hope when he saw Yuuri, but when his love tried to bring him to the surface he grabbed him and kissed him under the water. 

He winded up letting himself go. Yuuri cried at first, but through works of magic or perhaps just obvious fate, Victor ended up waking up less than a month later with a tail. Yuuri was still there when he woke up, and smiled so wide when he opened his eyes. 

They kissed again, and then they swam. They went to Thailand, Spain, America, across the whole globe. They found some waters in a long forgotten forest in Japan, and there they stayed, becoming a new legend for the occasional kid to come and figure out. One day after years of them being together, they’d briefly travelled to Russia for nostalgic reasons, and they ended up staying in some random lake for the week. 

And then, a young blonde boy fell in, and they learned that his name was Yuri. Victor called him Yurio to irritate him, and yet they became incredible friends with him.

One day, as they waited for the boy after one of his Junior Cups, Yuuri looked at Victor and kissed his palm. “The cycle repeats itself all the time, doesn’t it, Vitya?” he asked softly, and Victor smiled softly and nodded. He’d let his hair grow out now, and Yuuri thought it was so beautiful when they were in sunny waters. 

“I’m happy to be the one who first fell for you,” he said softly, making a small play on words that earned him a chuckle. The water was never too cold anymore. It was odd being a merman, but he’d gotten used to it. 

“You never forgot me, either. It was impressive, saying that you’d forget your own name if I didn’t call you by it so often,” Yuuri teased. 

“How would I ever forget your eyes?” Victor responded playfully, grabbing both of his hand and nearly pulling him into a kiss, but then suddenly a rock was thrown into the water and scared them both. 

“I can see you two being gross even underwater!” 

Ah. They’d forgotten about Yuurio, it seemed. 

**Author's Note:**

> 貴方は私にとって大事な人です。私を忘れないでください。- You mean the world to me. Please don't forget me. 
> 
> Я люблю тебя. Никогда не оставляйте меня - I love you. Don't ever leave me. 
> 
> my tumblr is space--kidd hmu about any suggestions or just yell with me abt these gays.   
> i have another idea for a fic and it's like lmao where did all this inspiration come from??? anyway i hope all of you have a good day and like pls leave comments i love them so much


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